Classes: 88 bubbles were isolated in schools in Buenos Aires by Covid-19

“Dear Families, We inform you that Miss Sofía (1st year A teacher) is in administrative segregation because she is in close contact with a suspected case of Covid-19. We will keep you informed. Best regards, the management team ”. Bianca’s mother, Leticia Trabado, received the email yesterday from the private school, in Villa del Parque, where her youngest daughter goes, and she was left with some doubts. Was he also going to isolate his daughter’s bubble? Or did the boys keep going to class? “Ms. Sofi has no symptoms, she had to isolate herself to live with a possible case of coronavirus, but the children do not have to isolate themselves, only her”, they concluded from the school.

Since the boys returned to classrooms a week ago, this type of situation has started to appear in various schools in Buenos Aires, and according to data from the City’s Ministry of Education, There were 88 isolated bubbles in total in public and private management institutions, out of a total of 45,056 current bubbles, or only 0.2%. Of the 88, 43 were isolated by confirmed cases and 45 by suspected cases.

“198 cases confirmed by Covid-19 have been counted. But that includes everything, those who have tested positive in the three test centers activated since the start of the operation with teachers and non-teaching staff (La Rural, Usina del Arte and Commune 7), added to the positive cases that have now happened with the return to classrooms. We have no way at this time to discriminate these data, nor to separate cases of internal infections from those which occur outside the establishments. This is why we cannot say that the 198 cases occurred at the beginning of the lessons ”, explained the Ministry of Education of Buenos Aires, and they consider the number of 43 bubbles isolated by positive cases to be a “really low” percentage.

The school year started with students in classrooms on February 17, and the first to return to the city of Buenos Aires were those from initial level, those of the first cycle of the primary and first and second year students of the secondary. In total, they numbered 370,493. Last Monday, 144,596 others were reinstated, which corresponds to the rest of the primary classes, which increased the number. 65% of the total workforce, or 785,152. On March 1, 90,073 high school students will join us, and a week later, there will still be nearly 30,000 youth and adults. Last on the list are those on the top tier, which will pick up in person on the 22nd of next month.

When should the Covid-19 protocol be activated in an educational institution? According to Buenos Aires regulations, the alarm can be activated in different scenarios: “If a student exhibits symptoms during school hours, they will be isolated with a mask and an acetate mask in a separate area”. También est establece que ante la aparición de un caso sospechoso de Covid-19, el grupo burbuja no deberá competing with the escuela hasta that is confirmed o descarte la enfermedad y que, en caso de ser positivo, la duración del aislamiento del grupo will be de ten days. Additionally, teachers who have taught this group will be isolated up to 48 before confirming the case. Faced with a confirmed case of a teacher, in schools in Buenos Aires, the bubbles he taught must also be isolated for ten days.

According to the resolution of the Federal Council of Education (CFE) on “The management and control of Covid-19 in schools”, all the people who make up the bubble to which the pupil in question belongs are included as well as ‘other people who have been within two meters of each other for a minimum period of 15 minutes. “If a teacher becomes a close contact of a suspected or confirmed case in a certain group and teaches in other different groups, the people in these second groups will not be considered as close contacts and therefore these groups will not be closed. . Close contacts have no indication of quarantine», Details the text approved by the CFE.

And he specifies: “Close contacts in educational institutions will be considered for all staff or students who have been in a group with a suspected or confirmed case, while showing symptoms, or in the 48 hours preceding. the onset of symptoms, regardless of the preventive measures used (correct use of the mask / chinstrap, distancing). Also to any person who has stayed at least 15 minutes, at a distance of less than two meters, from a case while showing symptoms or in the previous 48 hours ”.

In addition to official data, THE NATION He learns that several private schools are also putting the protocol into action, although the institutions consulted preferred not to give details. There were isolated bubbles and also teachers, and management teams found that a high percentage of confirmed cases originated outside the educational institution. This, which has just started to be recorded here, takes several months of study in some European countries, where there are districts which carry out continuous surveillance to assess the capacity of effective transmission of the virus in schools.

This is the case in Catalonia, Spain, a million PCR tests have already been carried out on students and teachers since the start of the European school year. Once the data was analyzed, one of the main conclusions reflected was the low transmission in educational centers. According to information published Thursday 11 in the newspaper El País, “Schools are particularly resistant to the virus, as the back-to-school stress test after Christmas showed”, reports this newspaper, adding that after the surge in infections that occurred last January, only 1.4% of classrooms are now closed.

“The explanation lies in the low level of transmission that occurs in educational centers. According to the information presented by the Generalitat of Catalonia, based on more than one million PCR tests carried out since the beginning of the course on students and workers of schools and institutes, an infected person only infects an average of 0.4 people in the school environment ”.

Para saber cómo actuar ante un posible caso, muchas de las cámaras que agrupan a los colegios privados dieron en estas últimas semanas capacitaciones y talleres, como cuenta Patricio Villegas, que es referente de 55 colegios de gestión privada de AIEP BA / JADEP para la Buenos Aires. Villegas explains that in each jurisdiction, the protocol may present differences depending on the health policies implemented in each location. Although the header guide is the last resolution sanctioned by the CFE; a document with a series of definitions intended to guide control actions in each circumstance, such as case isolation, tracing, quarantine of contacts and their follow-up. In addition, the resolution establishes that all schools must inform health authorities of cases produced in their population and recommends that a Covid reference be designated in all educational centers; someone who, in addition to being the link between the school and the health sector, is also in charge of case management, monitoring of school absenteeism and promoting the implementation of all necessary preventive measures.

“So far we have not had any reported cases, and although different situations will surely arise, in other parts of the world they are already verifying that of all the qualified places the school is the safer. The protocols are strict, they are followed and they are respected. In addition, as it is a population that frequents the same place every day, there is a lot of possibility of monitoring and prevention, which does not happen in other public spaces with massive attendance, ”explains Villegas. , who is also the representative of the Rosa Anchorena Institute of Ibáñez. It is at school that customs and customs can be changed, where boys are the ones who first integrate the new habits and then transfer them within families. as happened, for example, with responsible behaviors regarding the care of the environment. They are the ones who learn the fastest and integrate new ways of acting ”.

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